Fishing For Litter: Listening to the voices of Sporades’ fishers

In “Fishing for Litter” we aim to maintain an ongoing dialogue with fishers, discussing marine pollution, their role in addressing it, as well as the difficulties and challenges they face in the fishing section.

Recently, we met and spoke with bottom trawler fishers from the Sporades Islands, specifically from Skiathos and Alonissos. They shared their concerns about the future of fisheries in Greece, highlighting the significant decline in the number of fishers on the islands compared to previous years.

The famous "monk" of Greek literature writer Alexandros Papadiamantis, born in Skiathos, once described in his books the special lives of fishers with great warmth, back when the port of Skiathos was full of fishing boats. Today, however, the reality is very different.

Fishers themselves recognise that the survival of the fishing sector is without a doubt linked to the survival and protection of the marine ecosystem. Through their participation in “Fishing for Litter”, they wish to strengthen these efforts and help ensure that future generations inherit cleaner seas.

Some fishers from the Sporades Islands are among the project’s longest-standing participants and ambassadors, making a particularly important contribution to the long-term monitoring and removal of benthic marine litter. At the same time, an increasing number of younger fishers are joining the project, aiming to learn more about the impacts of marine litter and contribute to its systematic, long-term monitoring and removal from the seabed.

They emphasise the significant impact of the “Fishing for Litter”, explaining how their participation to the project helps them identify the sources of marine litter and how they can contribute to removing them. Their vision and goal are to leave behind seas full of fish rather than plastic litter.

Since October 2019, more than 270 tons of benthic marine litter have been removed, and more than 425,000 items have been recorded by fishers themselves. The project is now active in 21 ports across Greece.

“Fishing for Litter” in Greece is funded by the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation and implemented exclusively in collaboration with iSea.

Find more about the project: https://isea.com.gr/project/fishing-for-litter/